able of Contents

I.
Introduction and Macro-Analysis__________________________Page 3 to 51.
Company Background_____________________________Page 32.
Industry Analysis_________________________________Page 33.
Consumer Analysis________________________________Page 34.
Special Issues and concern__________________________Page 4 & 5II.
Brand Inventory________________________________________Page 5 & 91.
Positioning_______________________________________Page 52.
Brand Elements___________________________________Page 63.
Current Marketing Program________________________Page 6 & 74.
Brand Architecture________________________________Page 7 & 85.
Competitive Inventory_____________________________Page 8 & 9III.
Brand Exploratory______________________________________Page 10 & 15IV.
Recommendation_______________________________________Page 16 & 17V.
Appendix______________________________________________Page 18 to 29VI.
Reference______________________________________________Page 30 to 31

I.
INTRODUCTION AND MACRO-ANALYSIS:
1.
COMPANY BACKGROUND:
The NIKE brand was officially founded in 1971 and has been on the market
for over 40years (Nike Inc., 2013). NIKE Inc. is a multinational company
specialized in various
sports products such as accessories, apparel, and most importantly athletic f
ootwear. In fact, NIKE is the largest company in sales of athletic apparel and f
ootwear in the world,reaching over $25 billion in sales in the 2013 fiscal year
(Mergent Online, 2013). Thecompany is situated worldwide, and operates in
over 180 countries such as the US,Thailand, the UK, Australia, France,
Canada, and Mexico (Gale Cengage Learning, 2012).The company sells its
products through multiple distribution channels of NIKE-ownedretail stores
and online marketplaces.
2.
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS:
Athletic apparel is certainly a thriving industry and NIKE is the market leader
in athleticshoes and dominates in both sales and share. But with such an
identifiable market,
competitors are never far behind. NIKEs main 2 competitors in athletic shoe
sale
s are
New Balance and Adidas, with Adidas standing as NIKEs main competitor.
According to
Lazich and Burton (2011), NIKE combined with their Jordan and Converse
brands ownabout 48.87% of the market share within the athletic shoe sale
industry. Adidas may nothave as much value as NIKE but the company is still
able to reach many differentendorsement and sponsorship promotions such
as Derrick Rose from the NBA and themain sponsor of the London 2012
Olympics.

3.
CONSUMER ANALYSIS:
NIKEs current mission is To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlet
e in theworld and that If you have a body, you are an athlete (About NIKE
inc., 2013). This
allows NIKE to position to every athletic apparel user, whether they are a
professional,amateur, or casual.According to the Canadian Community
Health Survey (2012), There is an increasing trendof consumers going for a
casual walk 16-30 minutes everday. NIKE recognized this targetgroup and
built their shoes to satisfy these casual runners, walkers. This ultimately
leads to
an increase in sales of NIKEs
athletic footwear. [From about $19 billion in 2009 to over$25 billion in 2013]
(Mergent Online, 2013).
4.
SPECIAL ISSUES AND CONCERNS:
One of the largest issues that NIKE has to face is product counterfeiting.
The low quality
of these counterfeits affects the consumer confidence and also tarnishes the
brand image of
the genuine company (Gale Cengage Learning, 2012)
, ultimately causing customerconfusion. Product counterfeiting with similar
looking products at cheaper prices affects allaspects of the brand from
image, knowledge to profit margin. Many customers may choose
to buy the counterfeit products instead of NIKEs
since they offers almost a similarexperience comparing to the real product.
Overall, counterfeit products are detrimental to

the brand awareness because consumer knowledge of the brand may

change NIKEs
preferred image of high performance at a value pricing to the cheap and low
quality perception associating with counterfeit.

Page | 5
The other issue that NIKE is facing now is the intense competitive landscape.
As itmentioned earlier athletic apparel is a very competitive marketplace.
According to GalaCengage
(2012), with rising competition, the industry has been realizing
consolidation
wherein the smaller entities are being acquired by or merge with major
players. On the
other hand, there are many new private labels entering the industry causing
the athleticapparel even more competitive.

II.

BRAND INVENTORY:
1.
POSITIONING:
NIKE is a very powerful company in athletic apparel, which has a very strong
positioningwith regards to its competitors. In terms of point of parity (POPs),
NIKE shares multiplefeatures with its competitors. For example, NIKE has
individual electronic performancetechnology that allows customers to train
on their own and at their own pace, which

called NIKE+ that works with Apple products. This is true while Adidas has a s
imilar productwith same features called miCoach Pacer (Swoosh or strips?,
2010). What is true about NIKE and athletic apparel market is that, they all
sell sportswear equipment, which this can be the main point of parity.In
terms of point of differentiation (PODs), there are some features that
differentiate NIKEfrom its competitors. Ac
cording to Mathieu Daniel (2013), What is important about NIKE`s strategy
first of all is its presence in all sports. We can see NIKEs product almostin
every different sports from basketball and soccer to golf and skis
equipment, which this
allows the brand to expand its audience. This is true when some competitors
such as Asicsis only focused on running shoes that cause them to limiting
their target opportunities.

Page | 6
Another point of differentiation that NIKE has with its competitor is the
introduction of NIKEID, which allows customers to customize their shoes
and gear. For example they areable to change the color of the

swoosh, the overlay, and the tongue of the shoes.

2.
BRAND ELEMENTS:
NIKE is one of the most powerful brands in the world in terms of brand
elements. Some ofthe elements that they use are brand logos, names,
slogans, packaging and endorsementswith celebrity or athlete (How does
Nike score in brand elements?, 2013). NIKE hasdifferent logos and names for
each of its product. For exampl
e, Jordans brand has its ownname and logo or Cristiano Ronaldos line of
product has its own logo and name, which isCR7.
In terms of slogans, NIKE has one general slogan that is, Just Do It. NIKEs
goal to
create this slogan was to communicate that sport is for everyone and they
just have to do it.Another interesting slogan from Nike is

if you have a body, you are an athlete, which

further communicates that the brand is for everyone, and anyone can be an
athlete. NIKE tends to connect and sign with famous athletes in different spor
ts to represent its brand in each different sectors. (Roger Federer for tennis,
Cristiano Ronaldo for soccer,Tiger Woods for golf, etc.)
This makes most of us to believe, that when it comes to
buying sport shoes, clo
thes or equipment, we just have to step into one of Nikes shoes to become
an athlete as well (How does Nike score in brand elements?, 2013).

CURRENT MARKETING PROGRAMS:

NIKE currently in Canada has a campaign and promotion called Speed Unle
ashed,
wh
ich they promote and sale the Canadian Hockey teams jersey for 2014
winterOlympics. NIKE also has a Free Your Move. Free Your Training
campaign for their new
NIKE Free Trainer 5.0 shoes, which is a well-designed running shoes. One of
the productsthat NIKE is trying hard to promote and advertise is their NIKE+
products and its
accessories such as NIKE+ sportwatch and NIKE+ Fuelband SE. They
have NIKE+community in which people who have NIKE+ products can go
online and join this
community and share their running experience in terms of their daily goals
and distanceand places that they have run; with other NIKE+ users. With this
campaign NIKE is tryingto encourage more people and runners to buy this
product.
4.
BRAND ARCHITECTURE:

Differentiation and seg

mentation show to be a key aspect within NIKEs main competitive
strategy. The company has a multitude of products to choose from, making it
very simplefor a consumer to find something that appeal to their distinct
needs and
wants. NIKE has an extremely deep and fairly broad brand portfolio. They are
a company withmany brands that are used to separate into segments of the
market to help avoid
disconnect between each other. Although they have a vast amount of brands
, they tend to focus on 4major players: Converse, Hurley International, NIKE
Golf, and the Jordan brand.
This branded house however still resides within its core market, the sporty an
d fashionableconsumer by typically only supplying 3 main types of products:
footwear, apparel, and

sports equip
ment. NIKEs athletic footwear has proven to be the most successful of the
three, carrying a multitude of extensions such as basketball shoes, soccer
cleats, casualsneakers, and of course the running shoe. Running shoes are
NIKEs most differentiated
extension line due to the amount of modifiers that they have been able to
implement. A
recent implementation is the modification of the new Flash Pack line, a
reflective andwater repellant line of shoes to keep runners protected from
the elements (Nike, I
nc.,2013). These shoes are designed specifically for someone who is running
outside duringthe winter time when the sun is down, showing the clear
amount of specificity that NIKEhas with some of their extension

segments. NIKE does not supply much outside of these core products fearing
any customer confusionif they were to venture off into the development of
non-sport/athletic related products. NIKE wishes to stay within their
market segment and it has proven to be a success as theindustry is steadily
gr
owing. This has shown to be one of NIKEs greatest strengths; they
have been able to achieve their desired brand image and knowledge through
the careful andspecific implementation of their brand architecture and
portfolio.
5.
COMPETITIVE INVENTORY:
NIKE is one of the most successful brands in the world with a very identifiabl
e and
accessible market, making it a deep segment for competition. Adidas is
NIKEs main
competitor because of how similarly positioned they lie within the
marketplace. Adidas (in2011) held 16% of the worldwide market share within
the athletic footwear marketplace(Gale Cengage Learning, 2012), placing it
in second behind NIKE, which held 31% of themarket share. Although NIKE
holds nearly double the share of Adidas, it still has much to worry about.
Adidas positioning is similar to NIKEs
which they target casual consumers
as well as highly skilled athlete. Adidas slogan
Impossible is Nothing, stating that with
effort, training, and determination, you can accomplish anything. However,
what sets themapart from NIKE is their pricing strategy. Adidas tends to price
their products slightlylower than NIKE and in a retail sector that is become
more substantially price competitive.However, the reason NIKE can price at a
premium over Adidas is mainly attributed to thehighly skilled athletes they
sponsor, and with an accomplished athletes approval they areable to
persuade the consumer to purchase. So long as NIKE can continue to
increase andreinforce the associations and image of their brand, they will
continue to be able to price attheir current premium.
Although not as famous as the NIKE swoosh, Adidas does have a
trademark logo, thetriple stripe. The companys logo may not be as famous
or widely known as the swoosh,
but it certain holds a strong following in the minds of the consumers that rec
ognize it.Adidas is less focused on winning and flattening the competition
and more focused on
the passion, ambition, and drive of their consumers. Adidas centers around e
motion, stating

that the emotional connection we feel towards our brands, our lifestyle,
athletes of alllevels, and each other is something to value and to share
(Adidas: Our Brands, 2013).
Adidas brand architecture is not nearly as deep as NIKEs, however they do
still havemany successful and interesting brands under their umbrella.
Adidas owns a crowd of brands, but they mainly promote 3 of them; Reebok,
TaylorMade, and Rockport. They alsocarry the same 3 product types as NIKE
as well, supplying footwear, apparel, andequipment.